Ørsted and Rockstart joined forces and launched Ørsted Propel in early 2023 as part of Ørsted’s new Innovation Hub in the Netherlands. The objective was to accelerate startups in the energy sector with the potential to revolutionize the industry.
After a rigorous application process, we carefully selected eight ventures from a pool of +150 to participate in this unique open innovation program. We were thrilled to extend invitations to Cactos, Geyser Batteries, Ocean Swell Energy, phelas, Real Carbon Tech, RFC Power, suena, and Think RE, kicking off the first edition of Ørsted Propel.
Over the course of four months, Ørsted Propel provided the founders invaluable industry expertise, access to strategic expertise, funding opportunities, and the chance to collaborate with Ørsted, a prominent player in the energy industry, for future commercialization.
As the program drew to a close, the founders gathered in Amsterdam to showcase their energy solutions at the highly anticipated Ørsted Propel Finals day. This event served as a platform for them to pitch their ideas to potential investors, concluding their intensive journey.
Hear how the program went, directly from the founders:
One of the interesting things about this program is that they worked with us on the same side of the table […] We’re working together to reach a really important target in achieving sustainable and 100% renewable [energy].
Ashkan Kavei, Engineering Lead, RFC Power
We gained so much insight into the business model, the business case, and the markets. We met so many amazing people, so it was really a great journey. Mindblowing.
Steffan Hundt, CEO & Co-Founder, Think RE
They come in at the exact right moment to help us secure investment, and to collaborate with them going forward.
Justin Scholz, founder and CEO, Phelas
We’ve been very selective about what type of program we wanted to participate in. We saw that Orsted was very engaged and very involved, along with Rockstart, and that’s what attracted us to apply. […] We’re really happy about the outcome.
John Graham, Co-Founder – International Business Development & Sales, Cactos
Deep dive sessions helped us understand our position in the market, our benchmark, and so on. We really dived into the technical aspects – without the program, I would not have achieved that.
Tomasz Zmysłowski, Project Leader, Real Carbon Tech
As thrilling as the Ørsted Propel Finals day was, we closed the event with even more exciting news: four of the eight ventures would continue to collaborate closely with Ørsted. These collaborations aim to support the ventures in reducing technological and market risks to accelerate market adoption of their solutions for commercial-scale implementation.
A huge congratulations to the four ventures: phelas, RFC Power, suena, and Geyser Batteries.
Learn more about Ørsted Propel on the webpage.
